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I sat on my bed beside Damien, fisting the cotton blanket. “Do you think they will force me out of the academy?” I asked.

“Saving a life is hardly a negative thing. You gave Everett a chance today.” Damien leaned closer to me, our shoulders brushing against each other. “You were meant to find Naraic, albeit you lied to me about him, but he was yours to bond with.”

“You always seem to know what to say.” Heat rose to my cheeks. Of course , he did. He was reading my mind.

Damien sighed loudly. “I don’t do it often, and I shut myself out whenever I hear my name in your head. Shielding works, but it gives me massive headaches after hours of holding it. I don’t want to invade your privacy, Sev.”

I laughed nervously. “I guess there’s no hiding anything.”

Damien groaned, jerking his face toward the door. “Malachi’s thoughts are loud. She’ll be here in three, two, one.”

Malachi stepped inside. “Was I interrupting? ”

I flashed a quick wink at him. “No, Damien was leaving.”

“Good, I’m exhausted. I spent an hour beside Everett.

He nearly tore my hand off as his bones reset.

Knox knows he’s alive. He nearly fainted when he walked into the wing.

” She swayed her hand, gesturing to the slim distance between Damien and me.

“We have much to discuss, including your quell, Naraic, and why Damien Lynch is sitting on your bed close enough to kiss you.”

Damien raised his hands defensively. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Sev.” He closed the door, and Malachi turned on her heel and faced me.

“Archer wasn’t joking when he said you can hear through the wind,” I said.

Malachi fell into her bed, sprawling out. “Okay, go ahead and ask.”

“Ask what?”

“About Damien. What do you want to know?”

I laughed nervously. “Nothing is going on between us. He’s kind to me.”

Malachi waved her hand. “Their mother died when the three boys were teenagers. Their father, Victor, is the Serpent of Ravensla. They have another brother named Kian, who’s a year younger than us.

Their mother, Reina, was a Shadow, born in Demetria, the Night City, and she was a bargain to marry Victor. ”

“Their mother was a bargain?”

“Most Serpents do not believe in love. They feel marriage is only a contract to bind realms. In Victor’s case, he bartered the sunlight to a few realms in exchange for marriage. He’s a power-hungry man.”

I stopped her before she could go on. “Malachi, I’d rather him tell me. If he’s comfortable.” I crawled under the covers, extinguishing the lantern on my side. “Besides, we are just friends. I’m not sure he wants to be anything more than that. ”

“Not from the way he stood up for you in combat. Damien would be the last of my worries. When Klaus passed, Archer shut his borders down for months. Everyone was surprised to see him as a mentor this year. It nearly killed him losing Klaus. They were friends.”

That pain was back in my throat, a mix of guilt and something else. “You knew?”

“Gemini dragons are extremely rare. It is two bonds forged in one, like that three-headed dragon my grandfather has. Ciaran is your dragon, just as much as Naraic is. I think the entire Continent kept an eye on those two. Most years, no one takes the title, and lindworms are almost as rare as Gemini dragons. Once the year draws, the Serpents take the students to their realm, and hopefully, a lindworm appears. It’s quite a battle to the death, but the kill shot is the one who takes the power of the Serpent.

” Malachi yawned. “Perhaps Ciaran was holding on for you. I don’t believe in coincidences.

And you can’t keep secrets from me. The wind hears all. ”

“I’m dead if anyone finds out my quell. Please don’t tell anyone.”

She laughed. “I think we found our first thing in common. We are both evading death.”

I traced the moon’s glow on the ceiling. “Thank you for

being my friend,” I whispered. “And taking care of Everett. I don’t know how you handle all this grief.”

“Best friends,” she corrected. “I find comfort in faults, and when you’re the last sibling holding onto a dying title, you tend to fade into the grief and sadness.”

I was all fault with no prevail.

A week passed since Everett fell. Knox didn’t question it, and I was thankful.

I avoided Professor Cain in class, quietly warding my flame in the back of the oval windowed room. And I thought Cain feared me a little, feared the wispy black flame I’d drawn all week.

I’d won a single dagger off Margaret all week, and with whatever the Serpent Bid was, I doubted my lone dagger screamed leadership material.

Damien led the Summer students into the trails.

He wasn’t a hands-on mentor, believing the forests would teach us better if we got mauled.

Saani waited by the entrance for him after we’d strolled aimlessly for hours.

Even the beasts of Summer seemed subdued, their energy spent hunting me down earlier in the week.

Dragon riding had been postponed for three days due to a Serpent outing.

I’d watched Archer and Monty fly westbound outside my window, Ciaran’s midnight wings cutting through the clouds.

Night and Day were breathtaking: the moon and stars tangled in Monty’s golden rays.

It was almost impossible to believe we had enemies when our opposites lived as neighbors.

A pull tightened in my chest as the days dragged on, and by the third, that tether snapped, coiling around my ribs and squeezing my heart. I didn’t understand the longing for something I barely knew, the suffocating ache that gripped my lungs every time I glanced at the stars.

Knox was my opponent today. We’d fought as kids until we bled or screamed for Charles to intervene.

Knox never went easy on me. I’d managed to land a few hits, even pressing the blunt edge of a dagger to his throat, but he always turned the tables, kicking it from my hand to reclaim the only dagger I’d won all week.

Damien met me at the fields. Emerich’s sea-like scales shimmered under the golden sunset, bleeding into the horizon. The days were longer now, with night lasting barely a blink, and I was grateful for the distraction from the ache that tugged at me.

Damien looked freshly showered, his hair slicked back. I caught a trace of his cologne from several feet away. “I want to take you somewhere tonight,” he said, his voice smooth. “A quiet place I found during my first year.”

“He smells nice,” Naraic rumbled down our bond, lounging in a patch of fresh dew.

I smirked. “He does.”

“I thought he put cologne on for me.”

Damien stepped closer. “Need help mounting?” he asked, reaching for my waist before I could answer.

I might’ve let him, just to feel his arms around me, but I turned as his fingers brushed my ribs, my breath catching. “No, I need to do this myself. But thank you for the offer.”

“Klaus was never this awkward on his dates. Don’t ask about them; he’d scorch me from the grave,” Naraic teased.

I glared at him, forgetting to use our bond. “Remember when I saved your life?”

Damien arched a brow. “I can’t hear what goes on between you two, you know,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “Though, sometimes, I wish I could. Naraic makes you laugh.”

“He thinks you wore cologne for him. He’s disappointed.”

“What was that? You embarrassed him. Now get on me so we can leave this misery,” Naraic grumbled.

Climbing onto Naraic was far from graceful, but I managed.

“Thank him for noticing,” Damien said, winking as he mounted Emerich.

I ran a finger along one of Naraic’s scarred scales. “If you’re good, he might give you a chicken head. He has a few dried ones tucked away.”

A glob of drool dripped in approval. We took off into the veiled sky, following the current of Emerich’s wings.

We circled the castle, its stones swallowed by the black void below the clouds.

Emerich banked left, leading us toward the Spring forests.

The shield warding those vine-wrapped borders tingled against my skin as we entered.

The air was thick with lavender and dew, each breath refreshing and sharp.

Damien pointed to a clearing below. Naraic followed, though less gracefully, his bat-like wings snagging on brambles. He hissed when a thorn clipped his scales during the landing.

The clearing glowed softly, lanterns hanging from trees, casting warm light over the daisies, and pale peonies carpeting the ground.

Petals drifted across a broken cobblestone path in the gentle breeze.

Damien dismounted Emerich and approached with an outstretched hand.

“I know you don’t need help, but please, take my hand. ”

I nodded, letting him pull me down. Our chests brushed, our breathing syncing as he steadied me. “Don’t we risk expulsion being here?” I whispered. “This is Spring territory.”

Damien smirked, his eyes glinting. “The girl harboring a forbidden quell is worried about expulsion?”

His hand lingered on mine, and my heart skipped. “So, why are we in the Spring trails at night?” I asked.

“Spring has special wards. This clearing is warded to suppress quells, making it the only place I can find peace. Here, I can’t read your mind.”

I held out my palm, watching for a spark. Nothing. Even the bond with Naraic had gone silent. “Do you not enjoy hearing my mind?”

Damien exhaled. “I don’t. But I know I’m in for a lifetime of brutal honesty, even if no words are spoken.” He took my hand again, leading me toward a faint blue glow emanating from the bushes. A soft trickle of water dampened my face as a hot spring appeared through the trees.

“You mentioned you gained your quell at Harvest?” I asked .

“Harvest is a huge festival. It’s the only time Summer’s wards are down. I started hearing thoughts when I was fifteen.”

“Malachi mentioned your mother… I’m sorry about your loss.” I cringed, hating how I sounded. It was the same awkwardness I despised when people brought up Klaus.